1958 Combo 850 tribute.

[Dom]

This project started off as a way for me to get my skills back into shape by trying to replicate the German carve on a Hannah Montana guitar. I love building guitars for myself or others and it turned into an a lot of fun. Today I started out thinking I’d do a primer to seal the wood then a light guide coat. Ended up spraying the whole thing.

[Dom]

https://imgur.com/gallery/At7jI94

[antipodean]

Cool stuff Dom. Love the carve and the colour.... and that's one gnarly horseshoe!

[jps]

... and that's one gnarly horseshoe!

That's certainly one way of putting it!

[Dom]

At 9K It should sound gnarly too & it has a 10K HiGain as a sibling. I’m starting to dig the genuine mojo...The juxtaposition of a Frankenstein looking magnet lurking on a hot rod is growing on me. The surround I’m going to mod is from ‘74 & shows some age too. Any other relic-ing will come in the line of duty.

I did some mild reshaping of the treble cutaway & got the rear cutaway bevels up to snuff. How ahead of their time was that feature in 1957? Had to include it, although mine will be a bolt on so I will not be able to take full advantage. Scale length is 25.5 & this is a 24 fret.

I did test out the shoe on the “pool mule” for a glimpse of the sound but it was hard to do much other than string noise without proper mounting & wiring. Wiring I’ll get into later.

[Dom]

https://youtu.be/VdOR3uWyCGw

I’m testing out the shoe & going directly out to the jack...love it!...I still need to get a plastic bass bridge pickup mounting plate for it. I may need to have a horseshoe direct mode when I get this wired up. Hmmm free-way switch might be calling me.

[jps]

Sounds superb!

[Dom]

This ‘shoe has some kick! I honestly cannot believe how Touch Sensitive this thing is...it’s a totally different pick up when you play light and then when you dig into it, it gets angry in the best possible way. https://youtu.be/Vi92-eD67_M

It sounds great through Fender amp models dripping with verb.

So now I have a conundrum...go with the stock combo wiring 2 controls 2 three way switches or do I do something, well different that allows me to blend the pick ups when you’re out of phase? It will be able to do whatever regular combo guitar would’ve done. This is not ever going to be an exact re-creation so why don’t I add a blender for the neck pickup? So 3 knobs & 2 3ways. Why don’t I also would make the pick up selector a freeway switch so I can select in or out of phase as well as the Horshoe pick up direct out? I am certainly liking the unbridled nature of it direct out right now & I’d hate to choke it... I don’t think I can do series, but that would be awesome as well. While I’m at it why don’t I do a push pull pot for the tone control So I can ride to mid boost/scoop with the inductor?

[jps]

I wouldn't add the blend control, as all it really is is a second volume control for the neck pickup without its ground lug connected. it adds series resistance to the pickup, potentially muddying the tone. Just use the neck pickup's volume control, instead.

[Dom]

Great point. It does muffle & two volumes does it perfecto. The 330 I utilize the blender most has pickups permanently out of phase so on that one the blend is like an EQ sweep. Until I get the solidify the wiring I’m going to clean up the temporary pickguard & use the wiring from my Electro lap steel & a 3way selector switch. I still need to tear it all apart, spray clear and wet sand. I still need to get the correct pickup plate and I might have to spring for a wider Winfield combo spaced bridge.

[Dom]

I knew this would happen. What started out as a $15 throwaway art project took on a life of it’s own. The sustain of this thing kills me...now I’m on the hunt for a Roland GK3 kit. Yes, now a MIDI Combo. Tons of space to fit the hex pickup on there & it practically disappears next to the horseshoe. I hate the futile Borg cheesiness of having the midi connector/switch part stuck to any guitar. This will look fine as well as be out of the way. It adds one more knob, two buttons that I’ll recess into to the side, a tiny 3way & a red LED that will shine inside the pickup surround & bathe the pickup in a red glow like from the depths of hell. Muhahaha So 4 knobs...master volume, neck volume, master tone & Synth volume. If go for a 5 knob layout I can add a piezo...

Yikes.

[jps]

I hate the futile Borg cheesiness of having the midi connector/switch part stuck to any guitar

If it was good enough for her, it should be good enough for you.

[Dom]

Haha! Seven of nine looks much better post Borg. Locutus however looked awesome...

[jps]

Haha! Seven of nine looks much better post Borg. Locutus however looked awesome...

If that's your preference, so be it!

[Dom]

If that's your preference, so be it!

Make it so! I wore Picard's uniform & had my red 350 at my last band’s final show. Unfortunately our gear malfunctioned due to repeated tachyon field emanations. Facepalm.

On hiatus...forced break from working on stuff. Chomping at the bit...gonna be worth it.